May 26, 2010

Doubling aid to Africa by 2010: the facts

This article by the BBC reviews a report on the status of "foreign aid" policies enacted at the Gleaneagles summit in 2005. The plan by the G7 was to"... increase [...] official development assistance to Africa of $25bn [£17bn] a year by 2010, more than doubling aid to Africa compared to 2004".

The report (here is the main website of the organization in charge of it) shows that the G7 countries has delivered only 61% of what they promised.

Among donors, the situation is not the same. While the UK has achieved the fastest growth in aid given to africa since 2004, Italy did not. Prime Minister Berlusconi had to apologise in July 2009 "I am sorry we did not respect our promises, we are sorry we reduced aid to Africa, and for this reason we have opened a debate within the government." and Bono in now mad at him.

Beside that the organization Africa Progress Panel has also produced a report on the failure of African leaders to keep up on their promises of transparency, better governance and less corruption. Michael Keating, director of the panel said: "Governance and leadership are still the missing ingredients in Africa's development."

I wonder whether mr. Berlusconi has started to read Rigotnomics...

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